Staff at Dorset County Hospital who helped achieve excellent standards of cleanliness, food, privacy and the environment were treated to a tea party to say ‘thank you’.

Housekeepers, porters, nurses, estates and catering staff were all recognised for their work in helping the hospital to achieve high scores in all categories in the 2014 PLACE (Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment) assessments.

The PLACE programme replaced the PEAT (Patient Environment Action Team) programme from April, 2013, with the new self-assessments undertaken by teams of NHS and private or independent healthcare providers to include at least 50 per cent members of the public, known as patient assessors.

The focus is on the environment in which care is provided as well as supporting non-clinical services such as cleanliness, food, hydration and the extent to which the provision of care with privacy and dignity is supported.

DCH scored above the national average in all areas of the assessment with a rating of 98.52 per cent for cleanliness, compared to a national average of 97.25 per cent and 89.66 for food and hydration compared to the national average of 88.79 per cent.

Privacy, dignity and wellbeing were also above average at 92.07 per cent and condition, appearance and maintenance scored 96.48 per cent compared to the national standard of 91.97 per cent.

The hospital’s director of nursing Alison Tong said the results reflected the ongoing hard work of all staff to maintain standards.

She said: “We take the feedback seriously and are pleased, firstly that we have improved upon our scores from last year and secondly that we have achieved higher than the national average in all four categories.

“The people who made this happen are our hardworking staff.”